Jim Chalmers (Rankin, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Bass for her question and also for the massive contribution she's already making as a new member of this place. With your indulgence, Mr Speaker, I acknowledge that my mate the Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government's brother is in the House. Michael is in the House, as is his wife Kerryn. We welcome them from the member for Corangamite's electorate. Thanks for the wonderful job you did in helping to raise the minister for infrastructure.

New figures from the ABS did show today that prices were steady in the month of October but did tick up through the year in the inflation figures. As the Prime Minister acknowledged a moment ago, and as I acknowledged earlier on, the annual result is higher than we would like, but it is much, much lower than what we inherited from the coalition when we came to office.

The flat 0.0 inflation result in October was driven by falls in electricity and fuel prices and a moderation in housing costs. But there was a tick-up in the annual number, and that, in part, reflects temporary factors, such as the timing of those state energy rebates, and also volatile items, such as travel prices.

Again, as the Prime Minister and I have both said today, this is why it's so important that we continue to responsibly roll out the cost-of-living relief that those opposite oppose. It's why it is so important that we have been able to improve the budget compared to the mess that we inherited from those opposite. It's why it's so important that we are rolling out those tax cuts, rolling out the cost-of-living relief and strengthening Medicare—to try and ease some of the pressure that we acknowledge Australians are still feeling around the kitchen table.

As I understand it, the shadow Treasurer gave a little speech about some of these issues a moment ago. We have heard these kinds of speeches before. The speech that the member for Fairfax gave sounded exactly like the speeches the member for Hume used to give. But, whatever speeches they give down the road, they can't obscure the fact that, when they were in office, they delivered nothing but deficits. They doubled the debt even before COVID. They had spending as a share of the economy up around a third. We have spent a great deal of time and effort cleaning up the mess that we inherited in the budget with a couple of surpluses, a smaller deficit, $200 billion less of Liberal debt, saving on interest costs, and $100 billion in savings.

The member for Fairfax might look like Scott Morrison. He might be undermining his leader like Scott Morrison did, but more and more he sounds like the member for Hume, and it didn't work out real well for the member for Hume.

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